As of today, I’m taking on the role of Director of the Maison du Portugal at the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris, responsible for welcoming and supporting around 170 students, as well as programming the Salle Pessoa, a privileged showcase for Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking cultures in Paris. I embrace this mission with determination, a sense of responsibility and humility, given the importance of the duties entrusted to me and the awareness that the road ahead will be a long one. I succeed Ana Paixão who, over the last twelve years, has done an exemplary job in making the Maison du Portugal a place of scientific, cultural and artistic conviviality, a place of dialogue and tolerance, faithful to the founding ideals of this unique campus.
Inaugurated in 1967 by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Maison du Portugal has since welcomed important generations of artists, researchers and political leaders. Every year, it organizes dozens of events, in partnership with the Lindley Cintra Chair at the University of Paris Nanterre, the Portuguese Language and Culture Department at the University of Paris VIII Vincennes – Saint-Denis, the Camões – Portuguese Cultural Centre in Paris, as well as several Portuguese, French and international town halls and cultural institutions and associations. In its Vieira da Silva room, the Maison du Portugal houses the Gulbenkian Library, the largest collection of Portuguese-language works in France.
